[sportbos]

£50 million fine sounds about right..............

WT

[DYjLN8rF]

So does all this mean we will/could see Alonso in a Ferrari for Valencia???

Unless its a permanent move for the rest of the season, I cant see how Renault's team sponsors would allow it, unless Fred raced in plain helmet/overalls in an unbranded car.

[Abnorttrano]

Letting him out knowing the right front was not secured is clear negligence. Lucky Alonso didn't crash or worse. The fine fits the infraction.

[RenyBontes]

£50 million fine sounds about right..............

WT

that would be far too high, i think.

but no ban

Opps, we are talking about money out of el flavio's pocket????
in that case, not nearly enough

wonder if that is why the flav scooted out early

was not LH doing something similar? Tire gone but not wheel, but otherwise pretty much the same???

nevertheless, it is about time to put a stop to such nonsense with the cars running around with these types of problems

[neguoogleX]

Unsurprisingly, Renault have appealed.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77358

[xanonlinexan]

It's almost impossible for Alonso to be with Ferrari in the next round...The reason??Simple:After the race he will be back to Renault transferring Ferrari data...Ehh?

[Alice_Medichi34]

When I first read the title, my first thought was that Renault has been banned, because team boss left F1 race too early.

Maybe now we can see conspiracy theories start flourishing - Massa out and F1 supremos want Alonso to see alongside Kimi as soon as possible.

But the penalty is too harsh, no question about that.

[neguoogleX]

You want conspiracy theories? Here:

It is, however, inevitable – whether the FIA likes it or not – that the move will be seen by some in F1 circles as some kind of a payback for Renault team boss Flavio Briatore, who has been one of the leading members of FOTA in recent months.

It will not help that the FIA Stewards in Budapest include some of Max Mosley’s strongest supporters, who are advised by Mosley’s right hand man Alan Donnelly. One of them is none other than Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the UAE representative, who confessed last year to have personally provided Mosley with 41 votes for last year’s confidence vote resulting from Mosley’s spanking scandal. Ben Sulayem later became an FIA Vice President. http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2009/...m-european-gp/

[ephennaCypota]

Totally idiotic.

A team has a spring fail in quali, that partially rips a guys face off through his helmet, is still in the hospital in critical condition with no penalty, while another one has a wheel changing error that causes themselves to be embarrased and lose any hope for a good race result.
Seems like an equitable deal.

[GypeFeeshyTes]

There's a start to everything and today I welcome this move to make the sport safer.
The incident was avoidable, yet those who knew the extent of the problem did nothing.

For those who say it's to much: make sure you buy a good protection cage next time you go to a GP.

[GypeFeeshyTes]

But the penalty is too harsh, no question about that.

What would be the right penalty then?

What if the wheel went on to kit someone?

Do we need to have someone killed or seriously injured in order to give a harsh penalty for a life threatening situation?

[neguoogleX]

A team has a spring fail in quali, that partially rips a guys face off through his helmet, is still in the hospital in critical condition with no penalty, while another one has a wheel changing error that causes themselves to be embarrased and lose any hope for a good race result.
Seems like an equitable deal.

Renault did make an error, certainly. But the penalty seems to arise from their failure to act on the knowledge that they'd made that error, putting their driver and others in danger.

[GypeFeeshyTes]

A team has a spring fail in quali, that partially rips a guys face off through his helmet, is still in the hospital in critical condition with no penalty, while another one has a wheel changing error that causes themselves to be embarrased and lose any hope for a good race result.
Seems like an equitable deal.

The first team didn't consciously sent a car with a technical problem on the track.
The second one did!

A pretty big difference IMO.

[uniopaypamp]

The first team didn't consciously sent a car with a technical problem on the track.
The second one did!

A pretty big difference IMO.

agreed. the very fact that they knew that the car was unsafe yet still sent it out onto the track, possibly threatening the safety of everyone at the race meeting is unacceptable. simple as IMO.

[ephennaCypota]

When I first read the title, my first thought was that Renault has been banned, because team boss left F1 race too early.

Maybe now we can see conspiracy theories start flourishing - Massa out and F1 supremos want Alonso to see alongside Kimi as soon as possible.

But the penalty is too harsh, no question about that.

Fred will never agree to race for Ferrari while his team is suspended.
He has too much respect for the game.

[annouhMus]

What would be the right penalty then?

What if the wheel went on to kit someone?

Do we need to have someone killed or seriously injured in order to give a harsh penalty for a life threatening situation?

A potentially life-threatening situation arises every time one of us leaves the house. It is, as many of us keep on saying, impossible to eliminate every potential risk.

[annouhMus]

A team has a spring fail in quali, that partially rips a guys face off through his helmet, is still in the hospital in critical condition with no penalty, while another one has a wheel changing error that causes themselves to be embarrased and lose any hope for a good race result.
Seems like an equitable deal.

The Brawn spring could very easily not have hit Massa or anybody in the face. Bits fly off cars all the time without causing anyone else problems. That could very easily have been the case yesterday. Alas, it wasn't. There is no way any blame or penalty can be applied to Brawn. And I think applying one to Renault is wrong, too, no matter what the circumstances. I am convinced that this wouldn't be happening had nothing happened to Massa yesterday and Henry Surtees last weekend — in other words, it's a knee-jerk reaction.

[uniopaypamp]

A potentially life-threatening situation arises every time one of us leaves the house. It is, as many of us keep on saying, impossible to eliminate every potential risk.

but the point is this particular life threatening situation could have and should have been avoided.

[annouhMus]

but the point is this particular life threatening situation could have and should have been avoided.

Are we really in possession of the full facts of the matter yet?

[Alice_Medichi34]

What would be the right penalty then?

What if the wheel went on to kit someone?

Do we need to have someone killed or seriously injured in order to give a harsh penalty for a life threatening situation?

Well, it's a bit difficult to penalize someone unprecedently. In the past wheels have flown off too - like Häkkinen at Silverstone '99, Alonso himself in Hungary '06. Heidfeld managed to get somehow back in to the pits with a loose wheel in Spain '07. Etc. Now the team & driver have decided to act in the same way like everyone have been acting in the past and suddenly they get penalized.

This reminds a bit of Hamilton's penalties from last year - first FIA penalizes, then they create a new rule to "justify" the penalty in retrospect. It should be the other way around. Instead of penalizing FIA should create a new rule for the future, which prohibits a driver driving anywhere on a racing circuit with a loose wheelnut.